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Thursday, 26 February 2015

Good evening, Lads and Lasses, this is your latest Wander update coming to you from hot and humid Melbourne! (Sorry, Americans. I’m not trying to rub winter in your faces. I mean, I DID play Dragon Age: Inquisition so I clearly understand the cold. Also I’m Canadian.)

Aaaanyway, as per usual we’ve been busy little bees lately, with lots of cool new features. Specifically, we’ve got lots of new griffin/flying-related stuff to talk about. For those of you who’ve ever gazed into the infinite depths of the sky and thought: “Man, I’d sure like to fall like, a really long way down, and maybe land on a friendly griffin while I’m at it”... well, soon you can! You’ll be able to skydive! I don’t know about you all, but I think that’s freaking rad, and a really good incentive for you to make friends with some griffins. “But, Crystal,” you say. “I just want to take a regular, non-death-defying ride on a griffin!” Well, to this I reply: why do you hate joy? And also, you can totally do that! If you’re a hira, and you have a griffin pal who is willing, you can ask them if you can “hop on” for a jaunty ride! This is an awesome way to get places faster, especially if one of you really wants to show the other one something amazing. Just don’t be too offended if your offer is refused. Maybe the griffin just thinks you’re not ready to move to that stage in your relationship yet, so just chill, bro.

SPEAKING of characters, we have… some new characters!!! OMG!!!!! *Screams with joy for 100 years and then flings self into the sun*

Ahem! So yeah, they’re pretty cool. First up is a bit of a teaser: the long-awaited hira! I know you guys are probably sick to death of hearing this word “hira” constantly and thinking: “Well what the heck even IS a hira?” The answer… is THIS!

BEHOLD:

This is yet another example of some wonderful collaboration from our team. To say I was impressed by the result is a severe understatement. I wish I knew how to do my hair like that!

The same could be said (about me being impressed, not the hair), for the stunning piece of work I’m about to reveal to you next. Hold onto your butts as you feast your eyes upon the all-new and vastly improved azertash!

Those of you who can recall the original azertash may remember that it bore an uncomfortable resemblance to Fluke-Man from the X-Files (at least I thought so), so I am tickled pink to see this adorable, colourful and intelligent-looking creature who is clearly bursting with personality. In this form, you’ll be able to swim the depths of the ocean and discover all the mysteries contained within.

If you were impressed with the hira pictures, it gets even better, believe it or not. You can see the azertash in action below in our all-new trailer! It is, in my opinion, much better than our old all-new trailer, and I thought that one was pretty good. In addition to many of the new characters, you can see loads of the incredible areas you’ll be able to explore, and they are AH-mazing. My feeble words cannot do it justice, so just watch it!

Last but not least, we are going to PAX East and GDC! If you’re keen to try the game in person come see us in Boston at booth #11068. We will be trying not to freeze and also showing off all the new features.

So, that’s all for now! Very exciting stuff, and it’s only going to get more exciting as our release date quickly approaches. Don’t worry, we’re not panicking… much!